Joe Burns: Webs of deception

Joe Burns

Tuesday

Apr 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2009 at 9:09 AM

In the words of Fox Mulder: “The truth is out there.” But as Minnesota’s presumptive new senator, Al Franken, noted, there are also a lot of lying liars out there as well. The Internet is home to both.

In the words of Fox Mulder: “The truth is out there.” But as Minnesota’s presumptive new senator, Al Franken, noted, there are also a lot of lying liars out there as well. The Internet is home to both.

Perhaps the most revolutionary tool since humans learned how to make fire by rubbing rocks together, the Internet has made communication and information instantly accessible to millions throughout the world. But it also made us all more accessible to criminals of every ilk. Theft, fraud, robbery, rape and murder have all been unwittingly abetted by the Internet.

A couple looking to buy a home were scammed out of their savings. A man posing as a seller or a buyer robbed his victims when they met him to make the transaction. A woman answering an Internet ad for a nanny is found murdered. A medical student is arrested and accused of robbing and, in one case, murdering, prostitutes he met through the Internet. These and other recent Craigslist crimes have made headlines and warned us of the dangers of risky behavior and trusting strangers. They also have served to show us how the perceived anonymity of the Internet has emboldened criminals of every ilk, whose reach now extends into our home. “We,” as the saying goes, “are not alone.”

Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. But we all want to believe what we want to believe and the greater our wants, the easier we can be deceived.

Scammers use our gullibility to gain our money and personal IDs through too-good-to-be-true proposals. Pedophiles troll the Internet hoping to lure some troubled child or teen into their trap.

A desire to have our own views validated is behind a less insidious but equally duplicitous practice: the deliberate dissemination of false information. Nearly every day, I get e-mail containing unsubstantiated stories about something the mainstream media supposedly missed or deliberately ignored.

Last week, for example, I received an e-mail claiming that President Obama impeded the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, who was being held hostage by Somali pirates.

The claim came with no named source and no verifiable evidence. I was able to trace the story (and perhaps its origin) to Repubx.net, an ultra right wing Web site whose motto is “almost everything the media does not want you to know.”

Repubx claimed “reliable military sources close to the scene are painting a much different picture of the incident” than what was reported in the mainstream media. Again, there was no substantiating evidence offered, and no indication that anyone at Repubx spoke with anyone connected to the rescue operation. A comment in response to the Repubx yarn contained the same story that was sent to me, virtually word for word.

No doubt a lot of folks are swallowing that story whole, simply because it’s on some slick Web site devoted to reinforcing their views. The same is likely the case with a transcript of an interview found on a Web site devoted to conspiracy theories, in which an “expert” claimed, without any proof, that the 9/11 attacks were ordered by George W. Bush. And what do you want to bet that some people who’ve logged to the satirical Web site “Sarah Palin Hates Cats” take what’s on there salt-free.

Anything done via the Internet has been done before; the only difference is the Internet has made it easier. Pedophiles don’t have to haunt a playground, and armed robbers don’t have to lurk in an alleyway, they can lure their victims from the comfort of their home.

Rumors, gossip and outright lies have likewise existed as long as humans could communicate, but the Internet has allowed the spreading of dirt and deception faster and wider than ever before.

The unwarranted credence these deceivers receive isn’t just because they serve up their swill on sophisticated Web sites, it’s also because the mainstream media has abdicated its responsibility. Entertainment and news are intermingled on television, online and in print to the extent that we can’t tell fact from fiction. Opinion seeping into reporting erodes our ability to distinguish between news and views. Civility and credibility disappear as the guidelines of letters to the editor give way to unchecked, and unsigned, online comments.

Anyone whose need to believe is greater than their desire for truth is ripe for being duped or worse. Just because you saw it online or heard it through the grapevine doesn’t make it so. We can’t count on Web sites overseers to do what’s right. The onus is on us. Whether it’s a matter of our safety, security or just a search for knowledge, we all have a responsibility to ourselves and to others to act intelligently and proceed cautiously.

Call Joe Burns at 508-375-4936 or e-mail him at jburns@cnc.com.

The Falmouth (Mass.) Bulletin

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